SHIP BLOWN UP.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1732, 24 April 1913, Page 5

SHIP BLOWN UP.

DYNAMITE EXPLOSION,

. OYER 200 VICTIMS. TERRIBLE HAVOC ON A TUG AND A COLLIER. New York, March 7. The small British dynamite-laden tramp ship Alum Chine, of Cardiff, Wales, blow up in the lower harbour of Baltimore this morning, and, according, to the latest accounts, at least forty, possibly 100, men, mostly negroes, Were killed and 200 injured. It seems that 350 tons of , dynamite were being transferred from a .barge alongside to the vessel, when, without the lightest warning, thero . was a terrific explosion, which broko hundreds of windows lin Baltimore City and shook half Maryland like an earthquake. No trace of the steamer could be found; and a barge, and a neighbouring tug, the Atlantic, were also destroyed, six of the latter's crew being killed.''

Thirty-nine Bodies Floating in Harbour,

A United- States collier lying in midstream was torn asunder, and it' is reported that forty men were injured. Beforo noon 3D bodies wero found floating in tho harbour.

The dynamite was for use in tho Panama Canal construction. The Alum Chiue had' received most of her cargo, and v,Ms, duo to sail on Monday. Her crew was composed-of 80 men. It is incredible that-any man on board could have .survived, but whether any or. many of tho crew were ashore at tho time is uncertain.

Thought to bo an Earthquake. Tho intensity of the explosion can. be judged from the fact ■■ that newspaper correspondents in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey all reported a sicsmic disturbance. The shock, was felt in Philadelphia, nearly 100 miles away, as well as in Atlantic City. The _ Delaware State Legislature was in Session at Dover. One member paused, as the floor seemed to shake, and the windows rattled, and exclaimed, amid' laughter: "Either President Wilson has crossed the Eio Grande or that was an earthquake." Thousands of couivty residents in Mary-, land telephoned lo Baltimore to inquire what had happened..

Eye-Witness's Story. Ono of the wounded men on the Govi crnmciit collier Jason, which was 300 yards away, in describing the catastrophe, says: "I happened to see the puff of smoke jetting out from the side of tho Ship. Almost at -the samo time- one |of the crew ran up on deck from theh<Md screaming liko mad. Ho 'had evidently appreciated tho danger of tho impending disaster. The panic-stric|ven crew followed him, but whether they threw themselves into the water I can't say, for all I could see wero immense coils of black smoke belching from tho vessel. It was several minutes later that the concussion knocked me unconscious."

Close by tho Alum Thine was the launch Jerome. It is stated that -14 of tho British vessel's crew leaped into it, and the little craft sped off at top speed. It got a'bout sixty yards away wlion,the explosion came. There was a deafening roar as hundreds of tons of explosives went.off. .The air was. filled with flyin» debris, pieces of iron and steel weighing •501b. being foiiud four miles from the scene.' The launch appears to have shared the fate of the barge.

Hook Struck into Dynamite Box, Another account says: "The foreman of a local transport company was bossing a gang of negroes in the forward hold of the Alum Chine, and the-re were ten car- . loads of dy nam ito on the barge. Quick ; .work had reduced it Mo one', and a. half :|carloads.. Boome Hart, the boss, wanted : to. get the work done quicker. Ho jammed his bale-hook into a box of dynamite to lift it into its place. -He was blown to pieces. . About, fifteen negroes-were u;orkingVwith' 'Mm. As tho dense smoke arose they raced, "tearing at fach other's clothes, up out of the hold. They were screaming a warning to the crew of the steamer. The captain of .the Atlantic, iseeing the- spit ot fire, started to back 'away. The'negroes jumped aboard, ran down into' the engine-room of the'tug with their hands upraised to their, faces, fearing .the' explosion which they knew was bound to come.

A school house at Spa.Trow Point, several miles from Baltimore, was partly destroyed, and several children were hurt. Baltimore itself 'was shaken as if' by a ;powerful earth tremor, and some of the tall buildings in tlio centre of tho city •we seen to Tock, adds a Eeuter special :message. ... '

1 [The Alum Chine is a . steel scTew steamer of 1767 tons. She was bnilt at Glasgow in 190G, and is owned by tho Alum Chine Steamship Company, of Cardiff.]